Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Evolving Tactics (Conservatives learn to fight like liberals.)
opinionjournal.com (WSJ) ^ | August 23, 2005 | BRENDAN MINITER

Posted on 08/23/2005 9:18:18 AM PDT by neverdem

Conservatives learn to fight like liberals.

Quick, someone call Howard Dean. It appears the right has stolen the left's playbook and is now using tactics liberals have used for decades. Unlike Jimmy Carter's debate briefing book, which someone slipped to Ronald Reagan's staff in 1980, there are actually useful nuggets that the old Reaganites and the new Bushies can use.

It's hard to know when this began. But on a variety of fronts conservatives are using arguments and tactics heretofore under patent protection by the left, including pushing for activist judges (with four decades of liberal jurisprudence on the books, the left's best hope is judges who respect precedent above all), using federal dollars to build political constituencies, filing lawsuits, launching boycotts, and arguing for free speech and "diversity" in education. The last has drawn a surprising amount of attention lately with a debate over evolution and "intelligent design"--the hypothesis that evolution isn't random but rather the mechanism an intelligent being uses to change the universe.

President Bush pushed this debate well into the public spotlight by remarking that intelligent design should be taught in addition to random evolution. Whatever the merits of this debate, it's interesting that the "religious right" is co-opting the arguments of the left. With "diversity" a worthy goal in education, why not present students with "both sides"? That way no one is left out and everyone is included.

The question alone has to be infuriating for the left. It's nice to think that there was once a golden period in education when the pursuit of truth was paramount. But from the elementary curriculum to politics in college classrooms, education has always been determined by cultural and political movements. Many of the elite schools were themselves founded to sidestep one prevailing orthodoxy or another. So for...

(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Arizona; US: District of Columbia; US: Oklahoma
KEYWORDS: banglist; crevolist

1 posted on 08/23/2005 9:18:18 AM PDT by neverdem
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: neverdem

nice post. full article is interesting. hope the rancher collects his 600K. that would be the beginning of a whole new game as a fight back in the courtroom becomes a siphon on the lefts money.</p>


2 posted on 08/23/2005 9:32:55 AM PDT by q_an_a
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

YEEEE HAWWWW!!!


3 posted on 08/23/2005 9:34:25 AM PDT by uncitizen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Not only that. We ex-liberal dims brought our fighting spirit over with us when we became republicans. We know how to fight fire with fire.


4 posted on 08/23/2005 9:37:41 AM PDT by processing please hold (Islam and Christianity do not mix ----9-11 taught us that)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
Fight like Liberals?
5 posted on 08/23/2005 10:10:54 AM PDT by oldleft
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: oldleft

Hehehe.


6 posted on 08/23/2005 10:29:55 AM PDT by Earthdweller (Earth to liberals, we were not in Iraq on 9/11 so how did the war cause terrorism again?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Great piece!


7 posted on 08/23/2005 10:31:14 AM PDT by mosquitobite
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: oldleft

Where did you get that picture of me being beat up????

8 posted on 08/23/2005 10:32:57 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Islam is merely Nazism without the snappy fashion sense.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Lazamataz

I read your title page....I had to laugh in that you refered to John McCain multiple times in your rant while you mentioned others who "p****ed you off only once.

So tell me how you really feel about John McCain! Yeah I know...he "P****es you off!


9 posted on 08/23/2005 11:10:17 AM PDT by mdmathis6 (Even when a dog discovers he is barking up a wrong tree, he can still take a leak on it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: pbrown

Could not agree more...nothing as passionate as a convert...


10 posted on 08/23/2005 12:37:30 PM PDT by hilaryrhymeswithrich (It's all about the swagger......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: hilaryrhymeswithrich

:-)


11 posted on 08/23/2005 4:21:54 PM PDT by processing please hold (Islam and Christianity do not mix ----9-11 taught us that)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Excellent post!


12 posted on 08/23/2005 5:57:24 PM PDT by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson